Taking All of our Concerns to the Lord

In today's responsorial psalm, David says to God: "You are my God. In your hands is my destiny; rescue me from the clutches of my enemies and my persecutors."  That is Jeremiah's plea, also, as he realizes that the people are out to kill him. He goes to the Lord in his distress and says to Him: "Heed me, O Lord, and listen to what my adversaries say. Must good be repaid with evil that they should dig a pit to rake my life? Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf, to turn away your wrath from them."

Jeremiah and David both have developed a very close relationship with the Lord. They are not hesitant to pour our their souls to the Lord. They are honest with the Lord and speak to Him as to a best friend!  God has, in fact, become their best friend. May you and I, likewise, take all of our sorrows, our joys, our concerns, anxieties, worries to the Lord, trusting that God will act on our behalf, as we act on God's behalf and the behalf of others!

In the Gospels we, also, see how real the apostles are with Jesus. They keep no secrets from the Lord, even begging for privileged positions in Jesus' kingdom.  James and John go to Jesus, to God, as a child goes to his/her father, asking for whatever they desire. Of course, as with James and John and their mother, they are not exactly seeking what Jesus can give them. Neither do we, at times, realize that our motivations need to be purified.  On this journey, like Jesus, we will "drink the chalice" of suffering. James and John both suffered for the Lord's sake. James, in fact shed his blood for the faith! John was exiled because of his preaching about Jesus!  What we do know that as we go through this valley of tears God is at our side, His hand in our hand, guiding us, strengthening us, encouraging us and, when necessary, carrying us through the "turbulent" waters of life.

Confidence in God through Christ Jesus

In today’s first reading, 2 Cor. 3: 4-11, St. Paul shares the confidence he has through Christ toward God—a confidence each of us has as well.  God has given us the qualities needed to be ministers of a new covenant, the covenant of the spirit.  Moses was qualified by God as a minister of the letter of the law, the old covenant given on Mount Sinai and written in stone.    The “letter brings death,” Paul tells us. The spirit “gives life.”   The law condemns us. The spirit does not.  We have an example of the latter—the law bringing death—in the Pharisees, whom Jesus confronted many times. Paul himself was practicing a law that brought death to people until his conversion on the way to Damascus.

 

Each of us has a choice to be involved in “the ministry of righteousness,”  or of being a minister of the old covenant,  adhering to the  letter of the law, as did the Pharisees, as did Paul until his conversion, using the law to condemn others. In other words, like the Pharisees and like Paul before his conversion, we can choose to stand on a pedestal of self-righteousness, depleting life instead of giving life.   Or, we can acknowledge the Righteous One as our Savior, who alone justifies and glorifies those who walk humbly with their God (cf Micah 6:8) doing what is right in God's eyes, following the law of the Spirit. That is the confidence of which Paul speaks .

What choice are we making?

Letting go of our illusions

In this morning’s meditation, I reflected upon “The Teaching of Disillusionment” from Oscar Chamber’s My Utmost to His Highest. I quote: 

 “Disillusionment means having no more misconceptions, false impressions, and false judgments in life; it means being free from those deceptions….[T]he disillusionment that comes from God brings us to the point where we see people as they really are, [including ourselves] yet without any cynicism or any stinging and bitter criticism.  Many of the things in life that inflict the greatest injury, grief, or pain, stem from the fact that we suffer from illusions.  We are not true to one another as facts, seeing each other as we really are; we are only true to our misconceived ideas of one another.  According to our thinking, everything is either delightful and good, or it is evil, malicious and cowardly [and we can easily apply this perception to ourselves, as well].

“Refusing to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering of human life….There is only one Being who can completely satisfy to the absolute depth of the hurting human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ…Our Lord trusted no one, and never placed His faith in people, yet He was never suspicious or bitter. Our Lord’s confidence in God, and in what God’s grace could do for anyone, was so perfect that He never despaired, never giving up hope for any person. If our trust is placed in human beings, we will end up despairing of everyone” [including ourselves] (My Utmost to His Highest, July 30).

May our confidence in God, “in what God’s grace could do for anyone” become so strong that we never, never despair  nor ever, ever give up “hope for any person,” never give up hope for ourselves.  God brings each and every one of us closer to Himself in the sufferings we endure, in the sufferings we bring to the foot of His Cross.